Conservative political entities who supported Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker are beingsubjected to a secret investigation. Special Prosecutor Francis Schmitz has issued a series of subpoenas to 29 conservative groups, demanding that they submit all documentation related to the recall campaigns mounted by unions and their supporters against Walker in 2011 and 2012. The investigation is being conducted under the auspices of the state’s John Doe law, which forbids the targets of subpoenas from revealing the contents of those subpoenas to anyone other than theirlawyers.
The effort reeks of political intimidation. According to the Wall Street Journal, the two subpoenas they’ve reviewed demand “all memoranda, email . . . correspondence, and communications” within the targets of the subpoenas themselves, and between those targets and conservative groups such as the Friends of Scott Walker and the Republican Party of Wisconsin, Wisconsin Manufacturers &Commerce, Americans for Prosperity-Wisconsin, American Crossroads, the Republican Governors Association, and the League of American Voters.
In a transparent effort to determine an entity’s list of campaign donors, one subpoena demands “all records of income received, including fundraising information and the identity of persons contributing to the corporation.”
Milwaukee County District Attorney John Chisholm John Doe probe
The investigation originated in the office of Milwaukee County Assistant DistrictAttorney Bruce Landgraf. Landgraf works for Milwaukee County District Attorney John Chisholm, a Democrat. This latest John Doe investigation is the second one being conducted against Walker in only three-and-a-half years, and it was initiated just days before Democrat Mary Burke, a member of the Madison School Board, announced her intention to run for governor.
